I'm actually driving from New Mexico to Knoxville via Huntsville--so I'll have to keep my eyes open on the way up 75. Never noticed the place before...
After driving from New Mexico to Huntsville in the Safari, I'm getting more serious about making a move to a truck conversion. After a not-so-easy climb up to Mt. Magazine State Park in Arkansas, my GearVendors overdrive started to act up. It started to shift a little slow, and periodically shifted out of overdrive on its own for a few seconds. I've had it shift on its own before when a connection worked loose, but the slow shifting was a new one. Later on, it started to leak fluid--not terribly fast, but enough to splatter my car. After climbing underneath to add fluid a few of times (in 90+ degree heat), I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull it out and have it rebuilt.
Here are a few more questions:
<LI>Does any one know of operations building shells to spec? I'm talking about just walls and roof, no wiring, plumbing, etc. Ballpark cost for something like what I'm talking about (not including truck)?
<LI>Bob's comments about how much his conversion weighs have me thinking my initial guess was a little high. I'm pretty sure I can get the CG of the conversion close to where I'm putting the back axle with a ~10' overhang (similar to what my Safari has now, but higher off the ground). All of the water tanks, generator, HVAC, and batteries have space behind the rear axle, the kitchen and bathroom are effectively offsetting each other, and there isn't much weight in the living room. Does this sound reasonable? I'm doing more detailed calculations in a spreadsheet, but have a lot of guesses in there.
<LI>I've read some of the older discussions on here about COE trucks. Has anyone thought about any of the import LCF trucks (e.g. UD 3300, Isuzu F-series)? The challenge would be the pass-through, I think, but I was wondering about the possibility of designing a structure similar to the overhangs on class-C RVs, but making it tilt with the cab and using the space to provide headroom to climb up to the RV floor level.
<LI>Does anyone see any real difference in where you can go with a 12' overall height versus 13'? It seems like most of the Renegade-type truck conversions and a lot of 5ers are ~13'.
<LI>Has anyone built their conversion on the shop floor and installed it whole when finished? This would give me some extra flexibility--e.g. getting started before finding the perfect truck (or working while someone is lengthening frame), using truck to go get materials.
Thanks again--David
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